Ross Barkley

[VILLA MOLE]

Conor isn’t shit, Ross is an upgrade, which is what teams with aspirations tend to do

He may raise his game now Ross is here but we haven’t seen him play yet

[paul_e]

I think Hourihane has something to offer because of his deadball ability, he's one of 6-7 players outside the starting 11 that I think can come in and do a job. What we need to add next is players who are genuine rotation options, either by buying top end players who push current starters down or by getting another batch of youngsters like Luiz and Konsa who will build their way up over 12-18months. The latter is cheaper and fits the club philosophy better but it higher risk, so maybe a mix of the 2. January would be a good time to add a couple of players like that though, particularly if we can keep the current form going.

[DrGonzo]

I echo the last few comments. I appreciate the good that Hourihane has done for us, providing some incredibly important goals and assists in our promotion and first Premier League season.  Barkley just has more talent.  Far more talent.

[Dave P]

Conor isn’t shit, Ross is an upgrade, which is what teams with aspirations tend to do

He may raise his game now Ross is here but we haven’t seen him play yet

See also how Trez has improved since we signed Traore.

[Dante Lavelli]

BBC rumour mill saying that Chelsea will go for Rice if they can off load two senior players.  hopefully they will ask a sensible price for Barkley then.
At the moment I’d like us to sign him, but I definitely would not pay over the going rate, say £20-25m, as he isn’t yet Mings and must be signed.

[brentastonb6]

I’m thankful for all Conor has done for us but as has been said we are moving onwards and upwards with hopefully each signing we make being an upgrade on what we previously had. Barkley definitely is that , his energy, pace and strength
making him a worthy addition to our midfield. It was noticeable watching England v Ireland last night that Conor couldn’t hold his own against the English midfield much in the same way as he can’t in the premier league. He always seems off the pace both when attacking or defending.Hopefully another couple of months of current performances will see Barkley recalled to the national team .

[Sexual Ealing]

I’m thankful for all Conor has done for us but as has been said we are moving onwards and upwards with hopefully each signing we make being an upgrade on what we previously had. Barkley definitely is that , his energy, pace and strength
making him a worthy addition to our midfield. It was noticeable watching England v Ireland last night that Conor couldn’t hold his own against the English midfield much in the same way as he can’t in the premier league. He always seems off the pace both when attacking or defending.Hopefully another couple of months of current performances will see Barkley recalled to the national team .

If he was playing behind Ross Barkley and Jack Grealish he'd have looked better.

[old man villa fan]

At the end of last season I said that I wanted to see the club buying players that would replace the then current players in the team.  That has happened.  There is no disrespect to a player if they are replaced by a better player as long as the replacement plays to his ability.

Hourihane had reached his limit as a regular when we were promoted.  He is a very good dead ball player but you need to be more than that at PL level.  For a player that has had a career playing through the leagues, you cannot just add things to your game that you never had when you reach a higher level, unlike a young player that is still developing.  A PL midfield player needs to understand about covering space and tracking a player, just as much as being able to tackle/block.  He is not an all action energetic player and therefore is quite easily played around.  Having said all of that, he was a good signing by Bruce, although I did not think Bruce got the best out of him by playing him too deep at times.

What I have seen so far from Barkley is that he is an upgrade, particularly going forward.  He is new to the team and it takes time to understand how others play.  Hopefully, in time he will develop that understanding with the other players on how to cover the opposition in midfield when they are coming forward.  It is not unusual with offensive midfield players that they hit the ground running with their offensive game but the defensive game takes time to develop.

[Risso]

I'm not sure we'll ever see much of a defensive side from him, although he didn't do too badly against Leicester.

[RamboandBruno]

I’ve been guilty of using the hologram word occasionally, equally I’ve been full of praise for Hourihane at other times. He has been an incredibly important player in our comeback from the dire straights we were in up to and including relegation and beyond. He’s scored some really important and great goals, a dipping volley against blues a few years back and the screamer against Albion in the play off semis to get us back into the tie (I was right behind that) come to mind. I also think he was really important in keeping us up last year in the post lockdown run in, not just his performances but as an obvious leader in the team, if we’d gone down and lost grealish etc, he was the championship skipper for me.
Saying all of that, as all clubs progressing in the right direction do, we’re moving on and bringing in a better standard of player. I don’t see Connor as a regular starter anymore, though I do wish he’d get the odd run out, 3-0 up at Arsenal with 10 mins to go, don’t see why he wasn’t brought on then, he deserves some game time. A very good servant for the club at an important period in our history.

[OCD]

He's also got Ramsey breathing down his neck for competition for a spot whenever Luiz or McGinn aren't available.

[aj2k77]

He also cost us around £2m quid, which compared to most of our fee's the last 10 years has got to be one of the best deals we've done. Like Targett he's a bit of a fans whipping boy, sometimes understandably but he's always grafted, never shirked and gives a shit. Fair play to him and I'll always keep an eye out for him should we progress further and he moves on.

[ChicagoLion]

So, Should we be worrying Barkley fitness?

[Risso]

Smith seemed to think he’d be out for a few weeks now.

[OCD]

I saw Smith say he doesn't think it's too bad and that they had to assess it.